Climate impacts everyone, from multinational corporations overseeing complex supply chains to individual farmers managing unpredictable crop yields. Although the totality of its disruption is unknown, some estimates point to future climate change damages ranging from 2-10% of global GDP per year. One solution often touted involves reducing carbon emissions, widely considered a negative externality of modern economies and a leading contributor to climate change. While there are many methods of CO2 reduction, hybrid smart contracts—blockchain applications that use oracles to access real-world data and perform advanced computations—offer an innovative alternative, one in which shared truth, open-source infrastructure, and automated incentive structures bring together a diverse group of entities around a common cause.

In support of hybrid smart contracts for green finance initiatives, the Chainlink Community Grants Program is awarding a social impact grant to the Open Earth Foundation (OEF), a US-based research and deployment foundation using digital technologies to increase planetary resilience. The grant will fund the creation of an open-source data feed that measures the planet’s atmospheric CO2 concentration and makes the data available in leading blockchains through an OEF-run Chainlink oracle node. 

As part of the grant, OEF will deliver the following resources to the Chainlink ecosystem and the broader blockchain and environmental communities:

• Develop a unique climate data model for generating a single trusted value for planetary CO2 atmospheric concentration based on extensive research and prioritization of the most relevant datasets in terms of their robustness, trustworthiness, and accessibility.
• Build an open-source API so developers, applications, DAOs, and even non-blockchain systems can access CO2 concentration data, as well as write detailed documentation on how to integrate it.
• Develop open-source Chainlink External Adapters that enable Chainlink nodes to fetch data from the API and deliver into leading blockchain environments. Additionally, OEF will work towards launching a Chainlink node to bring this data feed on-chain for ease of use by smart contract developers.

California-based Open Earth Foundation is a not-for-profit centered around using blockchain, IoT, and artificial intelligence technologies to create open-source and multi-stakeholder solutions that tackle climate change and environmental challenges. OEF focuses on three key interrelated projects: OpenClimate, OpenFinance, and OpenCollabathon, which are aimed at developing global climate accounting systems, removing frictions in climate investing and financing, and mobilizing global networks of key stakeholders on open-source infrastructure. OEF is actively collaborating with numerous organizations, such as the UN Environmental Programme, UNFCCC, scientific authors to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Yale University, and more.

Having an open-source planetary oracle for atmospheric CO2 concentration can give rise to a more robust climate finance and policy ecosystem, including supplementary carbon price and carbon budget oracles derived from this data. Innovative development teams can use these data oracles for hybrid smart contract applications in green finance initiatives like carbon offsetting, climate fund algorithmic investing, climate reporting, automatized emissions regulation, and more. Fostering a rich climate finance ecosystem benefits a multitude of stakeholders, ranging from decentralized projects, startups, and non-state actors to national/subnational entities, energy producing companies, and non-energy producing companies.

Once OEF’s data and oracle infrastructure is implemented, numerous opportunities exist to further expand its feature-richness and robustness, including adding more data sources, launching new oracles for custom assessment models or specific carbon data, and establishing automated reports such as the global carbon budget status and UNEP emissions gap report. There exist a multitude of use case possibilities for the OEF oracle in hybrid smart contract framework and its potential social impact across many industries and geographic regions make it a great recipient of a Chainlink grant.

“We’re thrilled to receive a social impact grant and continue building innovative climate assessment models that accurately represent carbon emissions at the Earth level while also bringing such data on-chain through Chainlink oracles to support advanced hybrid smart contract applications,” stated Dr. Martin Wainstein, Founder and Executive Director of the Open Earth Foundation. “Through the Chainlink grant support, we can establish a baseline reading for atmospheric CO2 data, empowering smart contracts for institutions and startups alike to create more efficient, accessible, and transparent social and economic systems founded upon environmental truth.” 

Through the Community Grants program, Chainlink will continue to empower innovative teams, academics, and social impact projects which research and develop key tools and infrastructure that accelerate the adoption of hybrid smart contracts, secure oracle networks, and cutting-edge technology capable of improving the world.

About the Chainlink Grant Program

If you want to learn more about the Chainlink Community Grant Program, check out our recent blog post that further expands upon its goals and the criteria for submission. We encourage talented individual developers and development teams to apply to the grant program here, or if you’re a researcher and want to collaborate, contact us. Chainlink Community Grants are provided in cash and/or LINK.